Life As We Know It
by Anonymous1O1
Summary: "People are gonna die. Nobody our age wants to accept that, but it's true. Now I might not be the smartest kid around, but I still have enough sense to know what has to happen someday. Everyone has to die. It's a fact of life. It doesn't mean it's easy. It doesn't mean we can't cry about it. But nothing can stop it. It's life as we know it, and it isn't ever gonna change."


**Welcome to my first ever Drake and Josh story! This one will be a one-shot Drake/Megan bonding fic.**

 **The featured story for this one-shot is Careless by accidentalauthoress. "** **When Drake's irresponsibility puts his health in jeopardy, who will be there to save him? Surely not anyone he expected..." It's interesting to note that Drake has asthma in this story. Drake's usually the cool one, thus you wouldn't expect him to suffer from something like that. It's an interesting weakness to the character that would have been neat to see in the actual show.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Drake & Josh.**

 **Best accompanied by Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying.**

 **Dedicated to the brave warriors fighting cancer and to those lost to this terrible disease.**

* * *

Drake Parker pressed down on the accelerator, his hands sliding up the steering wheel of his car. His day had been great. First off, he'd manage to snag three different dates with triplets. Then, he'd succeeded in pranking his Chemistry teacher by switching the labels on a couple of bottles he knew the teacher would be using for lab that day. Finally, he'd gotten the opportunity to watch a crew of cheerleaders at practice for over an hour. A wide grin spread across his face as he drove home. Life couldn't get much better than this.

As he was nearing his house, Drake saw his phone light up with a notification about a text. Peering closer, he saw that it was from one of the triplets he had scheduled a date with. Andrea was her name. Likely the hottest of the three, in his opinion. The temptation to text her back was overwhelming. Drake started to reach for the phone, only to remember what had happened the last time he'd texted while driving. He hadn't gotten a ticket, but he had just narrowly missed hitting Mrs. Hayfer while she was walking her monstrosity of a dog. He wasn't sure if missing her by a hair had been a good thing or a bad thing.

Noticing that he was only a few blocks from home, he decided to wait until he was at his house to text her back. After all, it would make him look desperate if he texted her back right away. Besides, he didn't need to give Mrs. Hayfer another reason to hate him even more than she already did.

At long last, Drake pulled into the driveway, ending what had been likely one of the greatest days of his life. He saw that Josh was already home, which was a surprise to him. His brother usually went over to his friend Drew's house after school when he wasn't busy with chess club. Drake shrugged it off, figuring that Drew probably had something else to do and thus couldn't hang out with Josh.

Grabbing his phone and his backpack, Drake walked into his house. He was immediately greeted by Josh. The expression on his stepbrother's face worried Drake. Usually, Josh was about as eager as he could be to tell Drake all about what had happened during school. Ever since Drake had failed his junior year, the two of them had limited time to hang out with each other in school. Even though Josh was a pain in the ass sometimes, Drake admittedly missed spending time with him.

"What's up?" Drake asked. "Is somethin' wrong with Drew?"

"No," Josh replied, worry clouding his gaze. "It's Megan."

"Oh," Drake huffed, suddenly caring a lot less about what was wrong. "What happened this time? Did the camera she set up in our room break again? Or did mom and dad actually catch her pranking us for once?"

"No, no, it's something a lot worse." Josh's voice was quiet. I looked straight at him, suddenly feeling very concerned again. If Megan's technology had broke or our parents had caught her in the act of pranking us, he'd be a lot happier than that. He wanted revenge on Megan just about as badly as Drake did.

"What?" Drake asked. "What happened? Is she sick or somethin'?"

It took Josh a while to respond. "It isn't Megan who's sick. It's her friend. Lizzie."

"Oh," Drake said, relieved. "Shit, Josh, don't scare me like that. I thought somethin' was really wrong with Megan."

"Something _is_ really wrong with Megan."

Now Drake was more confused than concerned. "But you said she wasn't sick. Seriously, Josh, make up your mind!"

"There's nothing to make up my mind about!" Josh's voice was rising now. "I'm trying to tell you something really bad, and you're making it more difficult than getting Helen to notice me at work!"

"Okay, okay!" Drake held up his hands in defeat. "Out with it, then. I've got a girl to text back."

Josh lowered his gaze, turning away from Drake. The first time he spoke, Drake couldn't hear him.

"What?" he asked, sounding about as stupid as he actually was.

This time, Josh looked at his brother when he spoke. "Lizzie's got cancer. Brain cancer. Stage Four."

The lack of concern on Drake's face melted away to be replaced with a look of complete and utter shock. "Oh my God," was all he could say.

Josh's eyes darted away from Drake again. "The doctors gave her six months. Megan took it really hard."

"Well, yeah," Drake said. "Lizzie's like, her best friend."

Josh nodded. "She's in her room right now. She won't come down. When I tried to talk to her, she threw her lamp at me and told me to leave her the hell alone."

Drake glanced in the direction of the stairs. His phone vibrated in his hand, a sign that he got another text. Without even checking, he knew it was Andrea. Probably asking him where he was and why he wasn't responding. His fingers itched to answer her, but his heart told him otherwise.

He may have wanted nothing but to get revenge on Megan for all of her teasing and pranks, but he was still her brother. And no matter what, siblings stood by each other. Megan may have pushed Josh away, but something told Drake that she'd be more willing to talk to him.

"I'll go," he decided. He started toward the stairs, but Josh stopped him.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he said, concern lighting his eyes.

Drake shook him off. "Leave me alone. This is something I gotta do." Before Josh could say anything else, he headed upstairs.

He was confident until he reached her door. Any emotion he felt faded as soon as he heard her crying from the other side. It brought forward a strange sadness that Drake hadn't been expecting. He felt a strong desire to protect her, to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

And that's exactly what he was going to do.

Drake knocked and opened the door slightly. He immediately saw the remnants of the lamp Megan had thrown at Josh. Trying to ignore it, his eyes drifted up to Megan. Her back was to him, her face buried in her pillow. Used Kleenexes lay strewn across the room.

"Megan?" Drake asked, his voice quieter and kinder than he had been expecting.

Without turning to face him, she said, "Go away." Her voice was laced with grief.

Common sense told him to leave before she threw something at him as she had done with Josh. His body itched to get out of there as fast as he could, before his sister unleashed her emotion on him. But brotherly instinct told him otherwise. With much hesitance, he slunk over to her bed and grabbed her shoulder.

She jerked around to look at him when he did that. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. "What the hell are you doing?"

He stared straight at her, refusing to back down. "Comforting you."

She swung at him, and he jerked back reflexively. She was sitting up now, near eye-level with Drake, who was leaning over the bed. "I don't need to be comforted." Her voice was firm, but Drake detected the slightest hint of uncertainty in her voice. He took advantage of that.

"Look," he said. "I know we don't get along. I know you hate me and would do anything to get rid of me. But I'm not backing down. You can threaten me and swear at me all you want, but I'm not going anywhere."

She stared at him defiantly. Her fists were clenched, and for a few moments Drake was actually afraid she would punch him. His body tensed, ready to defend himself.

And swing at him she did.

Surprisingly, he managed to dodge the attempted punch. He lunged out and grabbed her, which lead to a lot of kicking and shouting.

"Let me go this instant, Drake Parker!" she screamed. Her voice rose to shrill heights, threatening to pop Drake's eardrums. Still, he didn't back down.

"I said _go away!_ " Megan screamed again. "Just leave me the fuck alone! I don't need you or anyone else to make me feel better! I can take care of myself!"

"Megan!" Drake cried. "Stop!"

She, as Drake expected, didn't stop. "Drake, I swear to God if you don't leave me alone I'll murder you!"

"Stop it!" Drake was screaming now, too.

"No! I won't stop it! I'm just fine! I can handle my own goddamn self! I might be little, but I'm not weak! Nothing can bring me down! Not even finding out that my best friend has-" She stopped abruptly.

Drake fully wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into what was likely their first hug in years. After what had turned out to be an impressive display of her kicking and screaming skills, Megan had finally submitted to Drake's presence. She sobbed into his shirt, not even seeming to care anymore.

"Shh, shh," Drake murmured. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay."

"No, it's not!" she sobbed. "Nothing will ever be okay _again!_ "

"That's not true, and you know it. Bad things have happened before, and you've come back from them."

"This isn't the same! I've never gone through something like... like _this_." She buried her face in Drake's shirt. "It's so horrible..."

Drake patted her back, finding it surprising that he knew exactly what to do despite never having shared a bonding moment with Megan like this before. "I know, Megan. I know. Cancer sucks, doesn't it?"

"Why her? Why couldn't it have been someone else?"

"It is someone else, Megan," Drake said quietly. "Millions of people are diagnosed with cancer every year. Thousands of them have cases like Lizzie's. Nobody knows why cancer happens, but it does. I don't know why it had to come into your life so early, but it did. That's the hard and sad truth of it all."

She didn't respond.

"It isn't easy," he continued on. "I remember a long time ago, back when I was in fourth grade. I found out that a friend of my friend's had been diagnosed with cancer. It wasn't terminal, but it was still a shock. I was too young to really register what it meant back then, but I understand now. It's a hard, hard thing, Megan. It really is."

"Why did it have to be terminal?" she demanded, a sob shaking her body.

Drake shook his head. "I don't know. But I do know this. People are gonna die. Nobody our age wants to accept that, but it's true. Now I might not be the smartest kid around, but I still have enough sense to know what has to happen someday. Everyone has to die. It's a fact of life. It doesn't mean it's easy. It doesn't mean we can't cry about it. But nothing can stop it. It's life as we know it, and it isn't ever gonna change."

It took her a long time to respond. He waited patiently until she did so. "You're right, Drake. For once. Everyone has to die. I've always known that, but I didn't think I'd have to... to come to terms with it so... soon." Her voice cracked on the last word.

"Me neither," Drake admitted. "But you're not the only one in pain. Think about how Lizzie must be feeling. She's the one that's gonna die. She's the one that's gonna have her life cut tragically short. You and the rest of your friends will go on with your lives. You'll never forget her, but the pain will fade into the background with time. Her pain won't have the chance to do that. So, you have to be there for her now. Don't let her feel alone. A lot of people will stay away from her because they don't want to be even more devastated when the time finally comes. But you're her best friend. And best friends are like siblings. They stick together, no matter what. It's up to you to make these last few months of her life the best possible."

"You're right," she said, her voice shaking. "I-I've gotta do that. For Lizzie. She's always been there for me. Now I have to be there for her. No matter how much it hurts."

Drake smiled a little. "That's it. And just so you know, I'll stand by you through this. I wouldn't be a good brother if I didn't."

"Thank you, Drake," she murmured. Her voice was so quiet Drake almost didn't hear her. Giving her shoulder one last comforting squeeze, he got up to leave. He was almost out the door when Megan's voice piped up behind him.

"Drake?"

He turned. "Yeah?"

"Do you... mind staying with me for a little while? I won't admit to this later, but I... kind of need you."

He nodded and gave her a kind smile. "Sure."

And that's where their mom found them two hours later, a sleeping Megan wrapped tightly in her brother's protective embrace.

* * *

 **I hope you all liked that story. For it being my first Drake & Josh story, I think I did pretty well. I just want to say that I wish the best for everyone out there who has cancer or who knows someone who has cancer. Someone very close to me in my life has been battling cancer over the past year, and is extremely close to being declared cancer-free. I know what it's like to find out that someone you love has been diagnosed with the thing we all fear. It doesn't feel real until it's there. So my best wishes to anyone who is battling cancer themselves or who knows someone who is making the long and difficult journey to recovery. Stay strong, and God Bless.**


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